We are delighted that we have been able to reschedule art historian and curator Henrietta McBurney’s two talks from Jan 2022 and thrilled that she has added another two. These talks discuss several gardens created during the seventeenth century, and the first decade of the eighteenth century, which were recorded in watercolour in books of fruits and flowers (florilegia). In each of these books, insects and occasionally animals are shown in different ways, together with the fruits and flowers. In a fourth group of drawings insects are given as prominent a role as the botanical specimens themselves.

The compiler of the earliest of these spectacular albums, the so-called ‘Tradescant’s Orchard’, is unknown; the manuscript dates from the second and third decades of the seventeenth century and is one of the treasures of the Bodleian Library. A decade or so later the gardener, horticulturist and gentleman artist, Alexander Marshal, began his florilegium, continuing to add to it until his death in 1682. Now housed in the Royal Library at Windsor, this contains portraits of flowers made from a number of gardens in and around London. During the first decade of the eighteenth century the first Duchess of Beaufort commissioned two volumes of watercolours on vellum recording the exotic plants she was growing in her stoves (hothouses) at Badminton House. This florilegium is still housed in the library at Badminton House. Another pioneering Plantswoman and collector, Maria Sibylla Merian, recorded in her own watercolours the exotic plants and insects she saw on her travels to the Dutch colony of Suriname during the last two years of the seventeenth century. These dramatic images, published in her Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, were to influence the compilers of the Duchess of Beaufort’s florilegium.

Each of the four talks will be devoted to one of these remarkable groups of watercolours and their compilers. The talks will take place by zoom on Monday evenings at 6.00 pm (London time).

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This ticket costs £16 for the course of 4 sessions or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £5 via the links below. [Gardens Trust members may use their promo code for an additional 10% discount.]

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week .

Due to an Apple decision to charge a 30% fee for paid online events unfortunately you may no longer be able to purchase this ticket from the Eventbrite iOS app. Please use a web browser on desktop or mobile to purchase or follow the link here.

Image: Royal Collection Trust/ © His Majesty King Charles III 2022, RCIN Chinese lanterns, marmoset and unidentified moth larva and pupa 924419

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C17 and C18 Books of Natural History Watercolours